In Opinion

Viewpoints

Trails watchmen are there to push mountain-bike agenda
Thank you for your article, Watchmen on Duty. What Mark Wood, who is a paid North Shore Mountain Bike Association employee, fails to mention is that...

In Technology

Top Stories

OTTAWA - A digital petition once famously forced the White House to provide official comment on an oddball suggestion for stimulating the U.S. economy: building a heavily armed intergalactic space station...

Columnists

Paul first got into video games when he won a copy of Madden 93 on Sports Page Trivia. That gave way to a Sega Genesis, then the Powerplay column was formed.

While his "real" job took him from city reporter to sports reporter to sports editor and now senior news editor, the Powerplay column has been a constant add-on. With the advent of online gaming, the spectrum of gamers has been blown wide open, and being on the cutting edge of technology is a bonus. Having two kids means the full gaming range is served in the Chapman household, from Disney's Sing It to FIFA Soccer, Halo and Guitar Hero. It all gets played. A veteran of many Electronic Entertainment Expos, Paul has seen the gaming world change from the old plastic cartridge world to the high-def download entertainment choices we have today.

Gordon Clark is the editorial pages editor of The Province, which, unfortunately for the people who sit near him, means he has an opinion on everything. His column, Gordzilla in the City, appears in the newspaper on Mondays and online at various times, depending on how lazy he's feeling. In his desperately limited free time, he can occasionally be found flying, sailing, building stuff out of wood, or coaching and attempting to play hockey.

"Vancouver is celebrated worldwide for its stunning natural beauty. Its arts scene deserves to be equally regarded.

"Having worn both performer and producer hats over the years, my theory is that if you can understand how a show or exhibit came into being from both the technical and the creative side, you can tell a better story about it. The arts columnist's job is a constant learning process and you can follow the journey on theprovince.com, twitter.com/stuartderdeyn and on my HearCandy blog."

A graduate of UBC, Stuart Derdeyn started his journalism career in student media, then freelancing and has worked at the Province and other media outlets.

Tony Gallagher is the Province columnist focusing chiefly on the NHL, a league which he has covered extensively since he covered his
first game in 1972.

Having covered 22 Stanley Cup finals including the Vancouver Canucks run in 1982, Gallagher is a vice-president of the Professional Hockey writers
Association and one of the better known media people amongst players and management.

He was recruited by the Province when he graduated from UBC where he was writing for the campus paper in the late 60s and began working in hockey when
the New Westminster Bruins of the WHL came west from Estevan, Sask. In 1972 he moved on to the WHA Vancouver Blazers and in 1976 became the paper's
lone beat writer doing the Canucks. He was promoted to general columnist in 1987 and left the paper in 1989 to host a national, network open line
radio show called 'Gallagher on Sport' on the Satellie radio network. He returned to the paper as NHL columnist two years later and also wrote
extensively on the NBA.

Gallagher lives in Vancouver with his wife of 33 years. Two of their three sons are lawyers practising in Vancouver, and their youngest is studying
engineering at the University of British Columbia.

Bob Lenarduzzi is president of the Vancouver Whitecaps, a former Canadian international soccer star, and has been a columnist at The Province for more than a decade. Lenarduzzi played for the Whitecaps for 11 seasons and won the NASL Soccer Bowl in 1979, and was a member of the last Canadian team to play in the World Cup, in 1986. Lenarduzzi's Free Kicks column appears in The Province every Friday.

Province columnist Michael Smyth, 38, wanted to be a newspaperman ever since he was a kid watching his dad read the Toronto Star
over breakfast every morning.

Smyth was so keen to be a journalist he even started a family newsletter pounded out on a portable typewriter he got for Christmas when he was 10
years old. In high school, he started up another newspaper and tormented his teachers and student-council reps with hard-hitting columns and
editorials.

Some things never change.

The journalism program at Toronto's Ryerson University was a natural fit for Smyth. It's a practical, hands-on school where students are taught by
professional journalists. He graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Arts degree.

Smyth's first job was in Wayne Gretzky's hometown with the Brantford Expositor, where he was amazed someone would actually pay him to
interview NHL stars at Gretzky's annual charity tennis tournament.

His next stop was the London Free Press in London, Ont. He covered the city beat and later served as the paper's bureau chief in Woodstock, where he
covered everything from the courthouse to the cop shop.

In 1988, Smyth joined The Canadian Press, Canada's national news agency. He worked four years on the Ontario Desk in Toronto, winning a CP award for
his coverage of the Ben Johnson steroid scandal.

In 1992, Smyth came to British Columbia as CP's correspondent at the Victoria legislature. Four years as a national writer caught the
attention of editors at The Province. In 1996, Michael Smyth was hired by The Province as its political columnist.

Michael Smyth is also a regular on TV and radio. You can catch him every weekday morning at 7:10 a.m. on the Frosty Forst Show and every Monday
afternoon on The Jennifer Mather Show, both on CKNW AM-980. Smyth is also the host of "This Week In B.C." on Shaw Cable television and appears each
week on "The Angle," a lively panel discussion on B.C. politics that airs every Sunday during the BCTV morning news. Smyth is also an in-demand
public speaker in British Columbia.

"Being a political columnist in B.C. is like being a kid let loose
in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory," says Smyth.

"Some days, I hardly know which story to pick. It's a bare-knuckle
game played by colourful, outspoken politicians. I love my job and value
the relationship I have with readers. Whether they agree with me or not,
they let me know by letter, voice mail or e-mail. Thank-you, Province
readers: You're the best!"

Sports columnist Ed Willes was born in Ottawa in 1955. Growing up, he moved across the country living in Ottawa, Montreal, Regina,
Chilliwack, Toronto, Kingston, and Victoria. He remained in Ottawa to complete his third year of journalism BA at Carleton, but, alas, never obtained his
degree.

Willes' first newspaper posting was for the Medicine Hat News in 1982 when he covered the WHL Tigers, minor league Blue Jays, rodeo, and
more curling than he cares to remember.

In 1996, Willes moved to Regina where he reported on the WHL Pats and Saskatchewan Roughriders. He was working on a feature about a
woman darts thrower when he was offered a columnist job at the Winnipeg Sun.

In Winnipeg, he spent two years as the General Columnist before moving on and becoming the Jets beat writer and hockey columnist. This
stint led him to cover the tragic demise of the Jets while he also took on the role of the first beat writer for the IHL Manitoba Moose.

After Winnipeg, Willes spent a year as a freelance writer in Montreal appearing regularly in the New York Times.

Willes was finally drafted to The Province in the fall of 1998.

Aside from his extensive writing career, Willes boasts a single-digit handicap in golf, an encyclopedic knowledge of pre-1982 pop music
and an "inexplicable fascination with movies and popular culture as a whole."